Molecular biologist Phillip A. Sharp discovered discontinuous genes or "split genes" in mammalian cells -- long sections of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with no encoded protein structure. His discovery earned the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Richard J. Roberts, who reached the same conclusions in his own studies.

Sharp is also a man of business accomplishments, co-founder of three successful companies: Biogen (now Biogen Idec), a huge pharmaceutical, medical research, and genetic engineering conglomerate; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which develops ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based therapeutics; and Magen Biosciences, a company researching skin physiology. In 1995 he received a threatening letter from "FC", later identified as Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.